After they started using TrekkSoft in 2016, Exuma Escapes have grown from a two person team to a large limited agency with full-time staff working 7 days a week. Last year, their goal was to move 80% of their bookings online to cut down on commissions paid to agents and resellers, and offer their customers the best price.

Exuma Escapes is one of the leading boat tours in Nassau, the Bahamas. They are best known for their "Swimming Pig Boat Tour", the most unique way to experience the perfect turquoise waters of the Bahamas with local wildlife: iguanas, sharks, and the main attraction... pigs!

Summary

With TrekkSoft, business at Exuma Escapes is booming and they feel supported by a booking system that goes above and beyond to help their business. As well as huge time saved on admin, they reduced credit card processing fees by 4% and completely cut out the need for accounting processing with TrekkSoft’s all-in-one booking system.

We still have not utilized all the features in TrekkSoft’s software and the software is still evolving. We’re always excited to hear about the new features available.

Challenge

Before using TrekkSoft, it was difficult for Exuma Escapes to process manual bookings without a booking engine to handle their growing volume of bookings. They also felt that every other popular excursion company in Nassau had a fancy website and so they wanted one to present themselves more professionally. Their biggest challenges before were keeping accurate monthly records and processing end of month transaction reports.

They were also taking bookings via credit cards through a third party company and paid handsomely in transaction fees. They also felt uncomfortable as this arrangement exposed their company’s internal financial history. Plus, they didn’t have tickets and just sent emails to booked customers with made up booking numbers in sequence.

It was difficult processing manual bookings without an engine to handle the volume of bookings. Also, every other popular excursion company had fancy websites so we wanted one too!

Solution

Exuma Escapes researched a few booking systems before choosing TrekkSoft as best for their business. TrekkSoft came with templates that made it easy for novice website builders to understand and quickly create a website and start taking bookings like a professional.

They started the TrekkSoft trial and in 14 days saw a huge difference in feedback from customers. The TrekkSoft support team also gave them a lot of helpful pointers during the trial period, which helped make their decision to stick with TrekkSoft an easy one.

Back in 2016, they were just a startup with two employees. Both of them were both on board with the decision to go forwards with TrekkSoft. Since then, every employee they’ve hired have been very impressed with TrekkSoft and its feature set. According to Dario McKinney, President of Marketing and Sales at Exuma Escapes, TrekkSoft is much more end-user-friendly and intelligent than any other booking software they’ve worked with.

TrekkPay has been a lifesaver. We now process all our transactions internally and we stopped using a third party since the beginning of 2017. Our records are more accurate. They can easily be compiled and printed at the end of each month which saves us on accounting time. We also take advantage of the TrekkSoft Channel Manager which we are still exploring by talking to the major vendors being added constantly. The card readers are the only ones that work in our region as well so that’s a super plus.

Results

Their 2017 goal was to move 80% of their on-island sales made through agents and resellers to online sales to save more on commission and offer customers lower rates when they book directly. This has boosted their sales tremendously in the last 11 months.

Exuma Escapes love how the TrekkSoft Channel Manager puts them right in sync with the world’s biggest travel giants. As Dario says, “that’s a no brainer”. The TrekkPay payment gateway also saves them “a fortune” in bank fees and credit card transactions.

Dario told us how the booking calendar and live chat integration are a huge time saver for anyone with major numbers in daily sales/bookings, such as Exuma Escapes. For their team, being able to control their inventory with the click of a button is a huge advantage.

They also love the one-of-a-kind support that TrekkSoft gives them. Dario explained how the webinars, one-on-one training calls, and TrekkSoft Library which he has recently stumbled upon have done wonders for his sales and marketing skills. As Dario says, “you can’t put a price on that kind of support”.

Since we launched the website with TrekkSoft, our sales increased by 15% in the first 6-8 months. When we revamped the layout it jumped to 49% increase in sales and 82% in traffic. Administrative time was cut down to 60% because of the ability to open and close calendar dates and let the system do the work. Credit card processing fees were cut down by 4% and accounting processing was cut out completely as the system did it for us.

Dario's advice to others

"Small business owners as well as large would be very wise to choose TrekkSoft. We started out as a 2 person company with TrekkSoft and have grown to a large limited agency with full staff working 7 days. I don’t think we would have made it this far so quickly without TrekkSoft. Thank you! – Dario McKinney, President Marketing & Sales of Exuma Escapes

We're here to support you all the way

TrekkSoft was founded to address the needs of our local tour and activity industry in Interlaken, Switzerland. We understand the industry and you can rely on our team to onboard your business, introduce you to digital best practice, and guide you to success from the start.